The Dark Side of the Moon
by carmen-085
Summary: When the Whisperers begin to threaten Hilltop and the other communities, Daryl gets a surprise as they find someone from the group's past among the enemy.
1. Chapter 1

"The Dark Side of the Moon"

**Author: **carmen_085

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Walking Dead characters. All original characters are mine.

**Summary: **When the Whisperers begin to threaten Hilltop and the other communities, Daryl gets a surprise as they find someone from the group's past among the enemy.

**Author's Note: **Plan to finish my other story, 'Better Days', couldn't resist this idea in the mean time.

**Chapter One **

Daryl scanned the road ahead through strands of dirty, sweaty hair. His eyes narrowed to small slits as he searched for movement. Behind him the horse trotted his heels clopping on the worn asphalt. Casting a momentary glance over his shoulder his eyes landed on Jesus; lifeless laying across the horse, Aaron pulling it with a frayed rope. Behind them Eugene was bent over clinging onto his own saddle. They had all gone out to find, Eugene and Daryl was sure that he felt responsible but this would have happened sooner or later. In this world it was only a matter of time before you ran up against some shit head who tried to take it all. Bringing his eyes back to the road he allowed himself to do something that he rarely did. He remembered.

All the people they had lost. He didn't want to remember them but sometimes he couldn't help himself. There was Sophia and Dale; they died before people turned bad and all you had to do was fear the dead. Simpler times for sure. And then it was Lori, Andrea, Hershel...Hershel had been the hardest. He could still see the Governor beheading the old man right at their gate. Really the first casualty to a bad person. The first of many. He thought about Glenn and all the things they had been through together. He thought about Abraham and Sasha and Bob and barely getting out of Terminus. But not matter how much he thought about all those people he always came back to the same two people. Beth and Rick.

Rick. He had searched everywhere for Rick. Followed the creek to the ocean and back, checked every walker, looked in every building and under every car. And for the last six years he'd lived with the fear that Rick was out there somewhere as a walker. But he couldn't find him. And he couldn't shake the feeling deep inside him that Rick was still alive. Somewhere with someone he was alive. But that didn't make sense either. Because if Rick was alive he knew the he would do anything to get to Michonne and to Judith. Still though...he felt something. Rick was like a brother to him, more of a brother than Merle ever was, and he would know if his brother was dead. He would be able to feel it.

And then there was Beth. Daryl let out an audible sigh as he put one foot in front of the other. In reality that's all he'd been doing since he lost her. They tracked those cars with the white crosses on them all the way to Atlanta; him and Carol. They found Noah but then Carol got hit by that car and Daryl was forced to leave and get Rick and the others. When they came back Rick worked out a deal with those assholes. The deal was done; she was back. She came right to him in that hallway, wanted to be with him and nobody else. He had been so worried that she would hate him for letting her get taken in the first place. But no...in typical Beth fashion she walked right up to him with those big blue eyes and soft smile and slipped right under his arm.

But then she wasn't. The bitch cop wanted Noah back and while he was ready to go back; Beth would never let that happen. She had helped him escape once she would help him again. She had her family; he wanted to go home and find his. So she stayed for Noah. Typical, selfless, do gooding Beth always putting others before herself. Rick tried everything he could to change her mind but somewhere deep inside she must have known that if they pushed this someone would die. Daryl was the last one left standing there with her. She held his hands; he never let anyone do that but her, and she leaned in next to his ear. "I'll find my way back to you."

Those words haunted him. The others wanted to move on, to leave her. Even her own sister. They felt she had made her choice. But that wasn't no choice. Not to Daryl, anyway. Beth sacrificed herself so that no one got hurt, she took Noah's place so he could go home. Daryl made one attempt, solo, to go back for her. But weeks had gone by and a herd of thousands had moved through. Atlanta, what was left of it anyway, was burning. He never made it to the hospital; couldn't get close enough. So he gave up, talking himself into believing that she was dead with everyone else. But he knew that was bullshit. Still, it had been eight years. He had sense of her, though, just like Rick. A sense deep inside that she was out there somewhere, alive.

Now Jesus was dead too. Daryl flashed back to that night on the porch of that shit hole moonshine den. Beth sitting there across from him drunk on grain alcohol smiling like there was no place she'd rather be. _'You're going to be the last man standing, Daryl Dixon." _At the time he laughed but maybe he should have cried. The only thing the last man standing meant was that you had to watch everyone else die. Bury every last person you ever loved. That was him, alright. Last man standing. Lucky him.

A covered bridge came into view as a few walkers ambled aimlessly toward them. Magna and Yumiko slid off their horse readying their knives as Michonne unsheathed her Katana. Daryl brought his crossbow level as he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Normally this would be a no stress situation, less than ten walkers. Michonne could handle that herself; but nobody was taking any chances. He watched them closely, the way they walked. The first went down easy but the one behind them charged Michonne and was met with a sword to the gut. Daryl and Yumiko handled the next three as one of the ones in the back pulled a knife from under its shirt. Without hesitation Michonne skewered him right in the chest. Blood splashed everywhere as he cried out in pain. Daryl raised his crossbow level at the last one before it suddenly stopped ambling to turn and run. His bolt sailed just wide, a rare miss for him.

"I'm on it." Magna sprinted off after the small framed person, her knife drawn. Daryl looked around at the dead as Michonne breathed heavily.

"This how it's going to be from now on? Freaks in skin suits running around." Her voice was high with agitation as Daryl reasoned she was thinking of Judith and RJ. He grunted in return. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Magna dragging someone over the hillside back up to the bridge. Pushing the person out in front she put her knife against the skin wearers throat.

"What do you want to do with this one?" Daryl pulled his crossbow up and leveled it. But yet there was something familiar here. Something in way the person stood, in the shape of their hands, in the tilt of their hips. He heard the person breath out light and airy. He heard something else too. '_Oh.' _

'_So you do still think there are good people around?' She looked at him smiling like always, that sweet Beth smile. He flipped his hair not wanted her to catch the look in his eyes. Daryl had never fallen in love with someone before. _

'_What changed your mind?' All he could do is grunt. He flipped his hair again, he wanted her to see that look but he just wasn't ready. 'Don't uhhh...what changed your mind ?' This time he met her eyes and he found he couldn't look way. He was lost in her in a way that he had never been with another person. He would do anything for this girl and he hope that she knew it. A look of understanding passed over her face. 'Oh.'_

"Oh." He heard it and he felt his heart stop in his chest. His arms felt weak as he left the cross bow drift down to his side. His mind was playing tricks on him. It couldn't be her. It just couldn't.

Gesturing toward Magna he finally spoke. "Let her go." Magna looked at Daryl like was crazy before taking her knife away. They stood there staring at one another for a moment the rest of the people faded away. Slowly those familiar hands went to the mask lifting it off. Shoulder length blonde hair fell out as the women finally looked up.

"Oh my God..." Behind Daryl Michonne let out an audible gasp.

She stared at Daryl just like she had that day eight years ago at Grady. Her eyes were still kind, her smile was still soft, but there was something different. She had been hardened by years out there alone. Daryl felt something inside of him crumble, a wall he had built the day he left her. Tears came to her eyes as she blinked once wiping her cheeks. She looked down and then back up at him as he felt tears in his own eyes. "Oh Daryl. You have no idea how much I've missed you."

Daryl wanted to reach out and put his arms around her more than anything in the whole world. But he didn't, he couldn't. Eight years had gone by and he had no idea if she was still the same person or not. Looking at the discarded mask at her feet he began to worry that Beth had changed in a way he never thought possible. "Daryl..." Her voice was small and unsure as he began to back up.

"Tie her up. Put a blindfold on her. We'll take her back, and see what she knows." Beth looked at him stunned as she felt Magna roughly slam her against the railing of the bridge. She watched as Daryl turned and walked away. Michonne looking between him and Beth before retreating to Daryl's side. They spoke in hushed tones that Beth couldn't hear.

"What the hell is going on here?" Michonne spoke through her braids as Daryl took a deep breath to collect himself. Beth...the only person in the whole world he had ever really loved...standing in front of him...after eight years.

"Can't trust nobody anymore. You should know." Michonne pulled back abruptly as if she had been stung. "Don't know where she's been the last few years..." He gestured toward the skin mask on the ground. "...Or what she's been up to."

Machine nodded as she looked between the small blonde woman and Daryl. "Yeah...but this is Beth...I mean you and her..." She trailed off as she saw the look on Daryl's face.

"We need to make sure she's still the person we knew." Magna and Yumiko pushed her onto one of the horses as they put a blindfold on her. Michonne watched the pain in Daryl's face as he turned his back on Beth and kept walking.

The group arrived back to Hilltop with a chorus of gasps as they unloaded Jesus's dead body. Beth could feel people staring at her even through the blindfold. She couldn't believe after all these years she had found Daryl again. She knew he was alive, she had a sense of him deep inside her and no matter what she had been through a part of her had always felt alive in a way she never had before that night at the funeral home. Him staring at her over those candles. She loved him then, she did what she did at Grady to keep them safe because she knew Daryl would be back for her. And she figured he did try to come back but they both just ran out of time. She had been on the run ever since; subconsciously finding her way back to him.

She felt his hands on her now pulling her down off the horse. His touch was gentle and familiar as she breathed in a familiar scent. Picking her up she felt him carry her down a set of stairs before sitting her down on a bed. She didn't move, just sat there blindfolded until she heard the jail cell slam shut. Reaching up she pulled the blindfold off but he was already gone. Looking down on the bed she saw something she never thought she would ever see again. Her diary. Breathing out raggedly she picked it up. Daryl had been carrying it with him all these years. Clutching it to her chest she laid back on the bed. Those pages were from another life...another girl.

It was dark in the cell when Beth heard the door open and footsteps on the stairs. Sitting up on the bed she stared into the darkness. In the dim light a familiar face came into view. Daryl. He stood there looking at her through the bars before opening the cell and walking in. Leaning against the door he stared at her with a completely unreadable expression. "You and me..." She had been waiting eight years for this to happen. "We gotta talk."

**TBC... Let me know what you guys think !**


	2. Chapter 2

"**The Dark Side of the Moon" **

**Author: **carmen_085

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Walking Dead characters. All original characters are mine.

**Summary: **When the Whisperers begin to threaten Hilltop and the other communities, Daryl gets a surprise as they find someone from the group's past among the enemy.

**Chapter Two **

He stood there in that dimly lit cell looking at her...really looking at her for the first time in years. She was the same but she was different. Her long blonde hair was now shorter coming just to her shoulders and it was darker somehow. Her face was still beautiful but she had aged into a grown woman instead of a teenager. A deep scar ran under her left cheek. He remembered that scar from Grady; it had stitches then. Her arms were more muscular than he remembered as he acknowledged that she looked bigger and stronger all over. Her eyes were the same though, big and blue and full of hope. He could only imagine the things she had been through since he had seen her last. And she still found a way to have hope. Daryl almost laughed. Just when he thought he had lost the last of his own hope; the person who taught him how to have faith in the first place shows up.

Beth knew he was watching her as she took the opportunity to stare right back at him. He looked the same ..well mostly. His hair was longer and scruffier, he was leaner than she remembered too like he hadn't been eating much. He had a scar on his neck that she couldn't place. His hands were the same though, and his arms, and the way he smelled; all the things that she remembered the most about him were the same. He still made her feel safe without even trying. He still made her feel alive without even trying. But there was one thing that wasn't the same. The light in his eyes; the light she remembered was gone.

He spoke first, his voice raspy and low. "How long you been with those freaks in the skins?" She felt herself tense. Beth had done a lot of things to find her way to back Daryl. A lot of things she wasn't proud of. But she had survived.

"Only a couple of months." She didn't say anything else right away which only made Daryl mad.

"What's this? You covering for your people?" All this time he figured she was alive he never thought that she would pledge her allegiance to another group, let alone a group of psychos. He cursed himself. He had been so stupid to ever even think that they could pick up like nothing had happened.

Beth looked at him incredulously. "I haven't had 'people' since you and everyone else left me at Grady eight years ago." Now she was pissed.

"You wanted to stay! We begged you to come." He pushed off the bars and got into her face. Much to his surprise she didn't even flinch. If he wasn't so mad, so confused, so scared; he would have found this new version of Beth incredibly hot.

Pushing up off the bed Beth squared off on Daryl her own eyes burning in anger. "I stayed because she wasn't going to let me leave there alive. No matter what you or Rick did she was going to kill me. She told me that. I owed her and nobody left that place until they worked their debt off." Daryl backed up as Beth took another step toward him. "So I played it smart and I knew... I KNEW... you would find a way to come back for me. That or I would find a way to get to you."

Daryl looked down at her as he blinked back years of emotion. "So what? You leave out of there and join up with the first band of freaks you find? Need someone to protect you? I taught you better than that!"

She was furious now. In less than five minutes he had managed to dismiss all the shit she had done in eight years to find him again. All the shit she endured and went through was for nothing. A small chair sat next to the bed as she kicked it hard. It skidded across the floor and hit the bars. "You want to know what I did well here it is, Daryl. I'll give you the short version since you don't seem to give a shit about me anymore. I stayed at Grady and waited for you as long as I could. I... I was one of the last people to leave that place. Me and two of the cops barely made it out of Atlanta. We met up with some other people and our group stayed together for a long time. Made it all the way to North Carolina together. And then a herd came through; we got separated and I was alone." Daryl felt his heart begin to pound. Beth, sweet innocent Beth had the shit to survive out there alone. Unreal. "I was alone for months. I didn't think I was going to make it and I almost didn't. But then a group of men picked me up. At first it was fine but then it wasn't. There...there wasn't a lot of women in the group..." She trailed off as her own anger faded to nausea. Daryl felt his stomach do a somersault as a dark realization dawned on him. "They liked to take women from other groups. A few months ago they took a girl named Lydia. She was the daughter of a woman who called herself Alpha. Alpha is the leader of the people who wear the skins. I protected Lydia; she's just a teenager I had to. When her mother came for her, Lydia told her this and she took me back with her daughter. They killed a bunch of people to get us back. A bunch of her people also died. So now I owe her." She paused staring at him like he was stupid. "That's what this world is Daryl...owing everybody something and doing whatever it takes to pay that off and stay alive."

Daryl tasted something bitter in his mouth as he swallowed hard. "Nah...ain't gotta be that way." His voice was soft as she saw the guilt on his face. He was supposed to keep her safe, keep her from doing that kind of shit but he didn't and here they were. Daryl stood in silence as Beth backed off of him. "So you think this Alpha is going to come after you?"

"She'll be here. Nobody runs out on her until their debt it paid in full." Beth laughed a little. "So there it is...I guess I just went from one band of freaks to the next doing whatever I had to do to make sure someone protected me...or whatever it is you think of me." She looked at him the hurt evident in her face that somewhere along the way he had lost all faith in her.

"What am I supposed to think? I ain't seen you in years and now you show up with a bunch of psychos who just killed one of our people?" He sneered at her, he was hurt more than anything. But he wasn't even sure why. It had been ten years since the start of all this shit and he knew, better than anyone, that you didn't make it ten years without some questionable decisions. She did what it took to keep living and for some reason that bothered him. "I don't know you, anymore Beth." He turned to leave the cell as the door slammed shut behind him.

Beth jumped off the bed in anger as she ran over to the bars. "I don't know who the hell you are anymore either. What did I say to you Daryl? The last time I saw you, what did I say ?I know you remember."

HIs voice was quiet and fragile with emotion as he spoke, "You said 'I'll find my way back to you'."

She crossed her arms over her chest waiting for him to turn but he didn't. "I kept my promise. You didn't. Just remember that." Daryl felt his breath catch in his throat. Why the hell was he doing this? For Christ's sake this was Beth. His Beth. It didn't matter what she did or who she was with. She was with him now; back where she belonged. But he just couldn't let her in again. She broke his heart once when she stayed at that hospital. And he guessed her broke her heart when he never came back for her. He couldn't do it though, just like at the funeral home, he couldn't drop that last wall and let her in. He was too damn scared. Walking up the stairs he slammed the door shut behind him.

* * *

"Hey you ok over there?" Beth's eyes snapped open as she stared up at the ceiling of her cell. She hadn't realized that there was someone else down here. "Hey..." Standing up she went to the bars and craned her neck. A young blonde teenage boy stared back at her.

"I'm ok. Who are you?" She smiled at him, her genuine Beth smile. She had so many questions maybe this kid would know some of the answers.

"I'm Henry. Carol's son." Beth's mind flashed back to Carol laying in the dirt outside her daddy's barn. That little girl, Sophia, stumbling around. Strange enough this kid Henry kind of looked like her; they could have been twins.

"I'm Beth. I used to be with Daryl and Rick and my sister Maggie a long time ago." Henry registered surprise at who he had in front of him.

"You're Maggie's sister? The leader of Hilltop?" Beth felt a flicker of excitement. Maybe her sister was alive.

"Yes. Is Maggie here? What about Glenn? And Rick..do you know where he is?" She looked through the bars hopefully at Henry as she saw a cloud come across the young boy's face and her heart sank.

"Oh man...you been gone a long time, haven't you?" Beth slumped back from the bars as she walked to the bed and sat down. "I don't know everything but I'll tell you what I can."

"You know, Henry, there's only one thing I really want to know." There were a million things she wanted to know but there was one thing she had to know. "I want to know what the hell happened to Daryl."

Henry exhaled loudly. "I was a kid back then but I've heard the stories and I heard the things my mom told my dad." He slid down the wall and sat next to the bars of his cell. "It's a long story."

Across from him Beth sat down behind her own bars. Her voice was soft and small. "I got time."

Beth listened intently as the kid told her a story of misery like none other. He never met Noah but he heard Glenn talking about him once and he died not long after they made it back to his home. His family was dead of course and Noah didn't last long either. Beth sighed internally, at least he made it home. The group settled in a place called Alexandria and soon they discovered the other communities of Hilltop and the Kingdom. But not long after that they came up against a man named Negan. He had his own group called they Saviors which was ironic because as Henry told her they didn't save a single person. A war broke out, beginning with Negan killing Glenn and another man named Abraham. Maggie was pregnant at the time and watched as this sick psycho beat Glenn to death with a baseball bat. Beth felt a tear slid down her cheek. Glenn, she was so sure he was going to make it to the end.

"He took Daryl prisoner." Beth stared at Henry wanting to know everything she could. "Treated him real bad. My mom never said anything else..." Her mind reeled at that thought. She continued to listen as he talked about how Rick and the others eventually won the war with Negan and took him prisoner. But in the months and years after conflict continued and Rick blew up a bridge leading a pack of walkers away from the communities. No one could get to him, not even Daryl. They never found his body and ever since Daryl had been searching for him. The communities broke apart and Maggie took her baby, Hershel, and left to start her life over. No one knew where she was.

Daryl sat back against the wall of the building listening to the two of them talking. He didn't care that she knew about him or the rest of the group, none of this was any secret. What he cared about was knowing more about her, where she had been and what she had done. He cringed. Didn't have the balls to ask her himself so he was up here like a pussy waiting for a kid to do his work for him.

Beth thought about what Henry had said. She was grateful for any information although she was sure there was more to all this. "So what about you...What's your story?" She swallowed hard as her eyes went to the floor before looking up to Henry.

"I uh...I was with them a long time ago. We lived in a prison and it was safe and then one day it got overrun and we had to run. Everyone took off, my sister included, and the only one who stayed behind was Daryl. We were together out there, just the two of us, for a while. We...we got really close."

Daryl felt his heart flutter. His mind flashed back to the moonshine shack and the funeral home and laying under the stars with her there next to him. He thought about the night in that car trunk and their final goodbye in Atlanta. He listened as she began talking again.

"Daryl and I...something changed between us out there. And I...I didn't want to live without him." Daryl shot to his feet. He couldn't listen to this anymore. Running a hand through his hair he stalked away. _'I didn't want to live without him.' _He heard those words over and over in his head.

"How did you get separated from them?" Henry seemed genuinely interested and she had no reason not to trust him so she kept talking.

"I was taken by a woman in Atlanta, a cop, to a hospital where she made me work for her. When Daryl and Rick and the others came to get me she wouldn't let me go. She was going to kill someone so I stayed behind so that no one would get hurt. I knew that Daryl would come back for me...but he didn't." She trailed off for a moment. "I promised Daryl when he left that I would find a way back to him. So I spent the last eight years doing everything I could to stay alive and find him again." She stopped talking but Henry knew that there was more so he stayed quiet. "I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. A lot of things I wish I hadn't done."

"Do you love him?" His words snapped her out of her thoughts. Beth laughed softly.

"I...I don't know, Henry. I know that without him I wouldn't have made it this far. I wouldn't have had a reason to."

"Sounds like love to me." She smiled at the simplistic thinking of a seventeen year old. "What about your new group? What are they like?"

The smile faded from Beth's face. "I wouldn't really call them a group. Everyone has to do what Alpha says or there are consequences. We just exist there. Nobody cares about each other."

"There's nobody you can trust?" Beth looked down. The last person she ever really trusted was Daryl.

"Alpha has a daughter named Lydia. She's a good kid. A lot like you, actually. Her and I are close. She was taken by my group before Alpha, I helped them rescue her."

"You sound..." Before he could finish the doors slammed open and there were footsteps on the stairs. Daryl appeared in front of her, his face unreadable by everyone by her. Beneath the squinting glance and the drawn lips she saw pain and fear.

"Time for you to go." Beth got up from the floor silently. She didn't want to go, how could she? But this was a moment that happened once before. She stays with them and people get hurt. It seemed like a choice but really there was no choice. And this time she knew...SHE KNEW...nobody would be coming to get her.

"Wait ! Daryl where are you taking her?" Henry stood up to Daryl with all the balls he could muster.

"Her people are here to take her back." Beth stared at him for a long moment before walking toward the stairs.

**TBC...**


	3. Chapter 3

"**The Dark Side of the Moon" **

**Author: **carmen_085

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Walking Dead characters. All original characters are mine.

**Summary: **When the Whisperers begin to threaten Hilltop and the other communities, Daryl gets a surprise as they find someone from the group's past among the enemy.

**Chapter Three**

Daryl stood at the top of the gates looking down at them. Beth wasn't kidding about their leader, Alpha. She was a strange bitch if Daryl ever saw one and he had seen some weird shit. She was bald and her face with smeared with blood and dirt, her clothes were filthy and the people who stood behind her looked just as dirty. Daryl felt a certain sickness in the pit of his stomach knowing that these people, these filthy dirty psychos, were "better" than the group Beth had been with before. And before that she was alone. And before that he left her in Atlanta and never went back. Looking down at his feet for a moment he felt like a piece of shit.

"You have one of mine. I want her back." Daryl looked away before looking back to Alpha.

"She don't want to go back with you." She had never really said that, but no matter how mad the whole situation made him, he wouldn't just give her up willingly.

"She is mine. She has skills that are very important to my people." Skills. Daryl wondered what the hell that meant. Alpha motioned for two of her people to move forward. Ripping the masks off Daryl saw that they had Luke and Alden. "Two of yours for one of mine."

"She wants to stay with us." Alpha didn't seem bothered by this at all as she turned to the two holding Luke and Alden.

"Have it your way then." Turning she gave a nod to her people. "Kill them."

"Wait..." Luke and Alden were nobody to him. A new guy and a former savior, who really gives a shit? But they were innocent and not saving them would cause an upheaval in the communities. Beth made her decision to be with these people and the people before them. Of course she wouldn't have had to make those decisions if he didn't leave her in the first place.

He heard them talking when he threw the door open to the cells. Beth stood up abruptly when she saw him. The anger of their prior confrontation had melted away and he saw that familiar understanding in her eyes. Over his shoulder he heard Henry.

"Wait ! Daryl where are you taking her?" He stood in his own cell hands wrapped around the bars.

"Her people are here to take her back." She didn't put up a fight and for that he was somewhat surprised. Maybe she wanted to be back with them. They got to the top of the stairs and she turned to him and their eyes met. Or maybe this was Grady all over again. "She has two of ours, she wants you back. Its a trade."

She crossed her arms over her chest and kept walking. "You always do what you have to in order to keep your people safe." She stopped and looked at him before shaking her head. "And I know I'm not one of them anymore ."

"Beth I..." They were at the gate now as everyone's eyes were on her. She turned and took both his hands in her own as she smiled at him with that soft smile he could never forget.

_The fluorescent lights buzzed over their heads as she stared into his eyes. Her blonde hair was in a ponytail with that braid she always wore. The yellow polo shirt was dirty but it was familiar and it it made him think about that night when they burned the house down and he opened up to her in a way that he didn't know possible. She smiled at him even though there were tears in her eyes. Thinking back on it he was pretty sure there were tears in his eyes too. Their fingers were threaded together in a way that seemed almost natural. Pulling him close she whispered those words he had been hanging on for the last eight years 'I'll find my way back to you'. He didn't say anything, couldn't find any words for this moment. So he brought their intertwined hands up to his lips and he kissed them. And then she was gone. _

He looked down at her fingers laced through his and he felt her warm palms pressing into him. A flood of safety and comfort filled him in that moment. This was Beth...his Beth. The gates opened and she let go knowing this was it. Daryl's mind began to swim with thoughts he never allowed himself to have before. Thoughts of him and her, thoughts of having someone always there just for him, thoughts of them being together forever. She walked out in front of him toward Alpha. The two assholes in the back released Alden and Luke as they rushed past Beth and Daryl back into Hilltop.

Alpha looked her up and down. Without warning or provocation she punched Beth right in the face. Much to her credit,though, Beth didn't stumble backward or flinch. Daryl felt himself lurch toward her before stopping just short when Alpha grabbed Beth by the throat. "Don't try anything..." Taking a step back she pushed Beth toward the others. "Get back there where you belong."

Daryl just stared at her. He could say nothing. His eyes met Beth's one last time before she quickly averted her gaze to the ground. The group melted back into the trees and just as suddenly as they had appeared they were now gone. Daryl stood there and wondered what the hell he had just done.

* * *

Beth was never one for looking back but she found that was all she could do. He let her go. Daryl...her Daryl that she had been fighting tooth and nail to get back to let her go. She turned her eyes back to the ground in front of her as she shuffled along with the others. Seeing him again, feeling him...it made her heart ache in a way that nobody could ever know. She had a lot of time to think about things over the years and when it came to Daryl she had come to two conclusions. He made her feel safe and when she was with him she was alive. Not just breathing and making it to the next day but really alive. Henry thought that meant she loved him. She wasn't sure what love meant anymore. It had been so long since she had felt it. What she did know was that she would move heaven and earth to be with him. And she would survive anything.

'_Well what do we have here.' She felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. It was strange that she could still feel that after so long out there alone. She reasoned those hairs had been standing up for at least six months straight now. Running from one place to another, always looking over her shoulder, always wondering. Things were ok with this new group for a while, they were almost all men so she cooked and cleaned and did whatever they wanted her to do. Everything except one thing. She refused to do that. Not for anyone, not ever. It wasn't worth living if that's what it came to. _

'_Come here sugar tits.' There were two of them now. She swallowed hard. The room was dark but she could see them moving toward her. They stripped her of her weapons when she got here but that didn't mean she didn't find something else to use. She felt hands on her back as she turned and stabbed into the air missing his neck by an inch. He pushed her down hard and then she felt another set of hands hold her down. 'Was going to be nice about this but since you want to fight'. She thrashed against their grip, not just laying there and letting it happen. They smashed her head off the table and the world went black._

_That was the first time it happened. She was dead afterwards. Completely devoid of any and all emotion; she just kept breathing. And then it happened again and again. She thought that would kill her but something strange happened. She realized that no matter what they did to her, or how they hurt her she was still here and she was still living. It was the price she paid to make it another day. It was the price she paid to get back to him. _

"Hey, you ok?" She was snapped out of the memory by a familiar voice. Next to her a taller girl in a mask shuffled along. It was Lydia, Alpha's daughter and the only person she trusted.

Beth kept her head down as she drug her feet the way that Alpha showed her. "I'm ok."

"They hurt you?" Beth shook her head quickly.

"No. No, they were good people." Lydia grabbed onto Beth's forearm in silent support.

"I'm glad you're back." Beth offered her a small smile before looking back at the ground.

* * *

Henry jumped to his feet as the door slammed open. Daryl appeared in front of him and unlocked the door to his cell. "Come on."

Without further prompting he followed Daryl up the stairs and out of the jail. His excitement was short lived, however, when the light of day hit them. "What happened to Beth?" The words died on his lips as Daryl looked at him before grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him back behind the barn.

"I want to know what she told you about those people." Sweat began to bead up on Henry's forehead as he realized this wasn't a courtesy call.

"She um...she told me..." Daryl was losing his patience as he pushed Henry against the barn.

"Tell me. NOW!" Henry watched Daryl pace in front of him as the sun beat down on them. His first reaction was that he was being a jerk but there as something else there. His shoulders were tense, his eyes were narrowed and his hands...his hands were shaking. He had never seen Daryl like this. He was...he as afraid.

"She told me she had only been there for a few months. That their leader was named Alpha and that they really weren't a group. That they didn't care about each other and they just existed." Daryl shook his head this wasn't what he wanted to know.

"How many? HOW MANY ?" Henry's eyes went wide as the older man got in his face.

"I...I don't know. She never said." Daryl walked in circles. He was agitated, restless, angry. Henry stared at him through sweaty clumps of blonde hair. "You love her, don't you?"

Daryl stopped cold. A chill ran down his spine as he squeezed his eyes shut. What was love in this world? He wasn't sure. He knew he needed her. All these years he needed her and he didn't even know how much until she was standing in front of him again. She gave him a reason to keep going. She made him feel alive in a way no one else ever had; before or after the world went to shit. He couldn't look at Henry right now. He couldn't look at anyone because if he did he was sure they would see how weak she made him.

"If you love her we need to go get her back." The words of a sheltered teenage boy echoed in his head as he walked away.

* * *

Beth breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the camp come into sight. She had been worried that Alpha was going to take her somewhere and kill her. Of course being back at camp really didn't mean anything. Alpha killed anyone anywhere she pleased; just like a wild animal. The others dispersed as Lydia took her mask off the smile on her face fading as Alpha made a beeline for Beth.

"You're back where you belong, now get to work." Pushing her roughly toward a green tent, Beth stumbled through the flaps. Injured people laid on the ground moaning and crying. Taking a quick look at everyone she began to treat the worst of them first. Back at the prison her daddy took on all the medic duties but what most people didn't know was that Beth was an EMT. Just graduated from class right before the outbreak. Otis encouraged her to go and what little experience she had she knew that she loved it. After she made her decision to stay at Grady one of the doctors took her under his wing and taught her as much as she could. In addition to holding out hope for Daryl, that's also another reason she stayed behind. There were still patients and she was one of the last medically trained people. Leaving those people behind was one of the hardest things she had to do.

In her first group she met an old combat medic and he showed her how to do even more. She kept learning and doing and before long she was confident in her skills as a medic also. Those skills; they kept her alive. The longer this went, people like her were in higher and higher demand. By the time she made it to Alpha's group there as no one left who had any medical training at all. If you got hurt you died, simple as that...survival of the fittest. Problem was that too many of her people were getting hurt and she was losing numbers fast. The arrival of Beth brought an unexpected solution to this problem and before long she found herself swept up into Alpha's good graces. Not a bad place to be in a savage group like this.

* * *

Darkness had fallen as Daryl checked his pack once more. At this feet Dog laid in the dirt waiting for his next job. Chewing the inside of this cheek he stared up into the night sky. What was he thinking sending Beth away like that? He couldn't sacrifice Luke and Alden but he should have done more. He should have gone with her or taken her away somewhere Alpha could never find them. He was right it was Grady all over again; she didn't want to go back to them as much as she didn't want to stay at that hospital. It's just what had to be done. After the prison fell and they were on the run just trying to stay alive she used to say the same thing all the time. '_We don't get to cry anymore. We all have jobs to do.' _Hershel used to tell her that when bad things would happened and she would get upset. After he died she would tell herself. And then somewhere along the way she didn't need to tell herself anymore. She just did it.

Daryl tried not to feel much anymore but when she held his hands today at the gate a dam broke inside of him and he felt so much he didn't know what to do with it all. He had never been very good at dealing with his emotions not before and certainly not now. He did know that he was filled a a desire to keep going though, a will to live like he hadn't felt in a very long time. So whatever the price may be he was going to get her back.

Quietly he slipped from the hay loft with Dog right behind him. He didn't want to make a big production of leaving or rouse any suspicions. The gates shut behind him and he let a deep breath out. He always felt better when he was out here alone. The trees the grass the quiet it was him and it always had been him. Veering toward the tree line where he last saw them disappear he looked up at the stars in the sky. He used to do that all the time, look at the sky and think about her. Wonder if she was looking at the same sky somewhere. Now he didn't have to wonder.

"I"m coming with you." Daryl nearly put a bolt through Henry as the teenager jumped out from behind a row of corn.

Daryl shook his head and grunted. "The hell you are. Get back in there." Stabbing his crossbow in the air he pointed toward the gates.

"NO...I'm coming." He kept walking and Henry began to follow him. Next time he saw Carol he was going to give her a piece of his mind about this kid and what a pain in the nuts he was. "You're going to get Beth, aren't you?" Henry seems genuinely excited about going on such a treacherous mission as Daryl's back up.

Looking at the kid Daryl shook his head. He was most certainly not back up, more like a liability. "This ain't no field trip, kid. These people are nuts."

Henry swung his stick around as Daryl couldn't help but roll his eyes. "That's ok. I'm ready."

"Yeah...we'll see about that." Daryl grunted as both of them disappeared into the trees.

* * *

Beth was inside the medical tent when she heard the first screams. Peering out of the tent she watched as a group gathered around someone who was on their knees. Closing the flaps she squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't see the blood but she knew that Alpha had just killed someone. There wasn't always a reason for it, sometimes she was just in the mood. Tonight Beth thought that someone had challenged her leadership; questioned her decision to go back and retrieve her from Hilltop. Usually the rule was: if you get taken that's just tough shit. She broke that rule once to get Lydia back, now again with Beth and people were pissed.

Keeping her head down she worked on stitching a deep cut; she had a job to do and that's all she needed to worry about. _'We all have jobs to do, Bethy.' _She missed her daddy so much even now after all this time. The wind blew through the tent as she heard something strange. Growls, snarls, hissing.

There were walkers in the camp. Then came the screaming and crying and she heard people running in every direction. Shooting up to her feet she took her hunting knife from it's sheath. Taking a cautious step out of the tent she came face to face with a walker that she quickly put down and then another and another. Whipping around there was one right behind her. Raising the knife she stopped before bringing it down as she caught a pair of eyes staring at her. Reaching up he pulled his mask off.

Daryl...she let the knife drop to her side. He came back for her.

"Come on...we gotta get out of here." His voice was low and raspy and she didn't think she had ever heard anything better. Even amidst the chaos she could see his lips quirk up in that familiar smirk. Smiling softly in return she nodded her head. They turned to go in the opposite direction as a desperate voice came from behind.

"Oh please...please...take me with you." Lydia looked at Beth wide eyed with fear. Shifting her gaze to Daryl she looked at him with pleading eyes.

He hesitated for a moment before nodding his head, "Alright."

**TBC...**


	4. Chapter 4

"**The Dark Side of the Moon" **

**Author: **carmen_085

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Walking Dead characters. All original characters are mine.

**Summary: **When the Whisperers begin to threaten Hilltop and the other communities, Daryl gets a surprise as they find someone from the group's past among the enemy.

**Chapter Four **

The four of them ran until their lungs burned and they couldn't keep moving. Henry propped himself up on his staff as he stole quick glances at Lydia. Beth folded her hands and put them on top of her head as she walked down the path a little ways clearly anxious to keep moving. Maybe if it was just her, Alpha would let it go but with Lydia gone too there wasn't a chance in hell they wouldn't be coming after them. In her heart, Beth knew she couldn't leave the girl behind. When Alpha ran out of people to beat up on she always came back to the same person, her own daughter. Nobody knew the abuse that girl weathered over the years. Her eyes drifted over to Daryl as his perceptive glare darted around the group clearly trying to figure out what to do next.

All these years later and Daryl was still a good man. She shook her head in amazement. Almost everyone she knew turned evil at some point. But not Daryl. Nope, no way. He wasn't just a good man he was the best. He could have easily turned Lydia away. Without a doubt he knew what a risk taking her out of there would be but he did it anyway. What he didn't know was exactly what he had just done. He didn't know that she was Alpha's daughter and Beth was sure that was going to change things. Walking up to him she nodded toward the trees.

"We need to talk." Henry and Lydia gave each other shy smiles as Beth and Daryl disappeared over the hillside.

Daryl wanted nothing more than to touch her as she walked ahead of him. It sounded so stupid but all this time he had been thinking about her, dreaming about her, all he wanted to do was touch her and know that she was there and she was real. They had lost a lot of people over the years and gradually they had all faded in his mind but not Beth. She was alive there just like she had been that night at the moonshine shack, and at the funeral home, and the last time he saw her at Grady. Her memory had never dulled and his heart ached for her in a way he could never understand. She turned to look at him and he took her in for the first time without anyone else around.

Her blonde hair was so much shorter than he remembered as its golden waves came just to the shoulders. Those blue eyes that he looked into so many times were still the same, warm and kind but with an edge, a maturity that hadn't been there before. Her lips turned up in the slightest smile, almost a smirk. Beth never smirked before, only smiled so big and bright it made him squint. He was the one who smirked. As he stood there his brow furrowed as he felt the dam of emotion inside him start to leak. Goddamn Beth always could do that to him.

Before Beth could say a word about Lydia or the rest of the Whisperers, who were undoubtedly stalking them down right now, she was swept up into this moment with Daryl. At first she wondered what he was doing, she had never know Daryl to show emotion when safety was at stake. Those moments, those rare moments, when he broke down some of those walls only came when they had nothing else to worry about. This was so out of character for him she could do nothing but stare. But as she stared at him she found herself swept into a moment that was years in the making. It was all there on his face; the years of pain, guilt, sadness, loss. The years of worrying about her, wondering about her, dreaming about her. Anyone else would never have seen it but after spending day and night with this man for months she would read him like no one else. Even now...even after all this time she could still see inside of him where no one else knew to look.

"Daryl..." Her voice came out as a whisper as she felt a tear slide down her cheek. God, no one could ever know how much she missed him. Daryl didn't think anymore, he was tired of thinking about her. He just wanted to live again. Reaching out he grabbed onto her pulling her against him. Instantly she wrapped her arms around him as she buried her face in his chest. Beth couldn't hold the tears back anymore as she quietly sobbed into the material of his shirt. Daryl closed his eyes tightly as he dared not speak for fear that he would completely lose it. Gently he reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. Beth pulled back a little so that she could look at him again. Daryl, not prepared to face her just yet had to look away quickly as a tear rolled down his own face. Quickly wiping it away with the back of his hand he shook his head. Beth reached up and moved some of the hair away from his face as she smiled softly at him.

"I dreamed about this moment...I prayed for it." Daryl felt a smirk come to his face. Only Beth would still be praying ten years into the zombie apocalypse. God...he never should have left her that day at Grady. He never should have opened that door at the funeral home. He never should have let that moment stop at _'Oh'_. He didn't know how to say all that , though, so he told her what he wanted her to know most.

"You're safe now, Beth. Not letting anyone take you ever again." She nodded, that sweet Beth smile on her face, as she reached up to touch his face gently. Running her thumb back and forth across his cheek, he silently wondered if they could stay this way forever. The smile slowly faded from her face as he felt his stomach turn.

"I know that." Looking over his shoulder she shook her head. "But there's something I have to tell you."

* * *

Lydia's eyes widened when Daryl and Beth returned to the road and he came striding over right to her. He didn't look particularly mad or upset, just all business. Still, he was intimidating not for his size but this presence. The way he carried himself, the way he talked and the way he moved. She knew he had been through some shit and came out on the other side not afraid of anything.

"Alpha...that's your mother." Lydia knew Beth would tell him; how could she not? She nodded her eyes still wide as Henry came to stand beside her. "How come you want to get away from her so bad?"

Lydia almost laughed. Where do you start with that question? Nervously fingering her sleeves she rolled one up slightly to show Daryl her forearm. Bruises, burns, all mostly healed. Daryl swallowed hard. Like hell he didn't know where that came from. While marks like that were considered abhorrent in the old world they weren't so strange now. Anyone could hurt you at at any time and leave you scarred. But her own mother? Christ who could you trust now if your own mother was abusing you? He tried to conjure up an image of Rick beating the shit out of Carl all the while fighting Saviors. It was almost comical. When he thought of a parent in this world the only thing he could think of was Rick. Jesus he wished that Rick was here right now to help him decide what to do.

Turning away, he looked down the road as he sighed. Taking her back with them meant people would die. Casting a glance over his shoulder he looked at Beth as she reassuringly rubbed the young girl's arm. She was just a kid. A kid who mostly like never knew what it was like to really live. To be around people that cared about her. To have fun. To know that someone would keep her safe. Daryl shook his head. Sounds like the two of them had more in common than he originally thought.

"Ok. Let's go." Gesturing in the direction of Hilltop he started walking. Lydia looked at him a little surprised. "You too. Let's go." A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she reached out for his arm.

"Thank you." He nodded as the four of them began to move again.

They walked in silence for a while before an old warehouse came into view. Beth immediately lit up as she excitedly walked out in front of Daryl before turning around and walking backwards. Feeling the corner of lips tug upward an involuntary memory flashed through his mind.

'_Betcha can't guess my middle name.' They were alone on the road for about a month now. The breakthrough at the moonshine shack had happened a couple of weeks ago and since then she had been talking non stop. No...they had been talking non stop. Daryl didn't know he had this many words in him until now. She hadn't broken the walls down inside of him but she sure as hell had found a way to crawl over them. And she was inside. God...she was inside of him in a way that was both frightening and beautiful at the same time. And for the first time he felt alive. Really alive. Not just since the turn but the first time in his entire life. _

_She walked in front of him backwards as her face was spread into that sweet Beth smile. This had become a game between them. "Betcha can't guess". One of them, usually Beth, would saying something and then he would have to spend the rest of the day trying to find the answer. Along the way he learned so much about her and she about him. _

_There was one day when he thought maybe he told her too much and that would be it. But as he found out he could never tell her too much. She saw him...really saw him...and for some reason she liked it. Acceptance; it was something he was so sure he would never find. _

"Did you hear me?" He hadn't heard a word, that memory completely taking over everything inside of him.

"Uh..." He grunted. Following her gaze to the building he could guess where this was going. Turning to Lydia his eyes narrowed. "How many are they going to send?"

She shook her head as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Alpha won't send a whole army if she doesn't have to. She'll just send Beta."

Daryl shook his head as he cracked a smile. "Beta?" He looked at Beth who was smirking back at him now. She knew where this was going. "Girl, you sure found a band of freaks to join. Fuck me...Beta?" Beth just shook her head. Little known fact about Daryl was that he liked to tease as the look in his eyes reminded her of something she thought she had long forgotten.

_It was dark out as she laid down for the night against the log. Daryl was taking first watch as usual as she felt him sit down next to her on the blanket. When this all began, just the two of them out here, he didn't come anywhere near her and she him. When they slept it was feet away. But in the last few weeks she had noticed they were getting closer and closer; both literally and figuratively. At night now instead of being on opposite sides of the camp, they sat right next to each other. Beth had always been one who was showered with love and affection; human touch had no negative connotation to her. Daryl was completely the opposite. But despite that, she felt even he needed some kind of human contact to keep going. Leaning her head against his leg he didn't move as she pulled the blankets up over herself. The first time she did this he was almost paralyzed but now it was expected. _

_As she felt herself drifting off to sleep, her nose wouldn't stop itching. Finally with a sneeze she sat upright only to be met with Daryl's mischievious smirk. A blade of grass in between his fingers. "You were tickling my nose with that, weren't you?" She was tired and slightly irritated but she couldn't help but laugh. _

"_Don't know what you're talking about, girl..." That night every time she laid down her nose wouldn't stop itching until she got so pissed she took the blankets and went to the opposite side of the fire in a huff. _

"Beta's no joke." Lydia's voice interrupted her memory as Daryl shrugged his shoulders non- chalantly.

"He their best?" Lydia nodded automatically. Beth knew that she wasn't kidding about that. The man was larger than life literally at 6'6" and thick as a brick shit house. Daryl flipped the hair out of his eyes. "Good. Then we'll kill him first."

Daryl didn't wait for them say anything back as he started toward the warehouse. Lydia and Beth shared a worried look as they followed with Henry close behind. No matter what happened here Beth wasn't going to let anything happen to any one of them. If that meant killing Beta herself she would do it.

**TBC...short chapter. Wanted to indulge in some Bethyl though. **


	5. Chapter 5

"The Dark Side of the Moon"

**Author: **carmen_085

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Walking Dead characters. All original characters are mine.

**Summary: **When the Whisperers begin to threaten Hilltop and the other communities, Daryl gets a surprise as they find someone from the group's past among the enemy.

**Author's Note: **Plan to finish my other story, 'Better Days', couldn't resist this idea in the mean time.

**Chapter Five**

Beth wandered through the abandoned warehouse. It was a good idea and a good place to make their plan happen. Walkers couldn't climb stairs…everyone knew that, so what made it upstairs would be them. Running her finger along the haphazardly hung drywall she let her mind wander. So many years had gone by since she had seen Daryl and yet it seemed like no time had passed at all. He was still the same in so many ways. Quiet, always lost in thoughts so deep there seemed to be no bottom behind those blue eyes. He looked the same too, hair was a little longer and he was skinner than she remembered. He didn't feel different, though, those strong arms felt just like eight years and a lifetime ago. How many nights when she laid her head down alone did she wish and pray and absolutely ache to have those arms around her. In her whole life, before and after, she never felt as safe as she did in Daryl's embrace.

_They hadn't seen anyone in a long time. It had been so long, in fact, she had begun to wonder if they were the last two people on earth. And then the day came when she wished that was really true. Daryl had left to hunt, he wanted her to come…no he insisted she come, but she begged and pleaded and finally convinced him that she would be fine on her own. Besides…they needed water and fire wood and there as plenty to do in the camp. She wasn't going to ride his coattails; she was could do this too and she was determined to show him just that. _

_She couldn't do it, though, and just like the stupid girl she was she didn't even hear them until it was too late. There were two of them, men, rough men….men that lived by no code. They had her pinned to the ground before she could get the knife out her of belt. She cursed herself so hard in that moment. Daryl trusted her to take care of herself and she had done a pretty shitty job. _

'_Fine piece of ass like you left out here all alone. Gon teach you a lesson bout payin' attention, girl.'_

_She felt his hands on the piece of rope she used to keep her pants up. Her eyes widened as she struggled. At that point the other man came over and held her down while the one on top of her reach into his own pants. This was really happening….taking a deep breath she screamed as loud as she could. _

'_Shut the fuck up…" The man on top of her slapped her across the face hard. Her vision was blurry for a moment as she blinked a few times. When she regained her bearings she realized her own pants were down. Beth struggled with everything she had but she quickly realized everything she had wouldn't be enough. There was nothing she could do to stop this. _

_She heard a click but she thought she was imagining it. She couldn't be that lucky could she ? Beth heard a whizzing sound and a groan. Looking up, the man who had been holding her arms down fell backwards, an arrow embedded in his skull. The other man on top of her looked up but it was too late as a second bolt sailed right through his neck. Beth's eyes widened as blood spurt all over her. In slow motion he began to fall on top of her. Reaching up just in time she managed to push him to the side. Her chest heaved as she lay there staring at the sky, the taste of someone else's blood in her mouth. _

_Daryl sat silently near the creek as she washed up. Normally she would at least strip down to her underwear but not this time. Sitting in chest deep water she hugged her arms tightly around her small, shivering frame as she stared straight ahead. She didn't eat that night, just sat there staring at the fire. Daryl couldn't hide the concern on his face… concern and guilt….she could see it there plain as day. She knew he would be blaming himself when this was no ones fault but her own. When it finally got dark, Daryl nodded toward the blanket. _

'_I'll take watch. Get some rest.' They had been sleeping next to each other for some time now, their heart to heart at the moonshine shack almost two months ago. Beth quietly laid down on the threadbare wool blanket, bringing her legs up to her chest she turned away so that Daryl couldn't see her face. All day long she had been numb, but now….now she felt everything and all at once. In the span of seconds a wave a hysteria came over her like nothing she had ever felt before as she began to sob uncontrollably. Gasping for air she sat up as she simultaneously slapped her hand over her mouth. She shouldn't be making so much noise, it wasn't safe. _

_Daryl looked at her struck with fear. 'Daryl…..what if you hadn't got back….what if he…' She trailed off not able to finish that thought. _

_Shaking his head Daryl turned toward her. Looking at her seriously he shook his head not willing to think of that possibility himself. 'Don't….Don't even think that.' _

_Beth's chest heaved with sobs as she clamped her hand harder over her mouth. Shifting the crossbow, Daryl reached up as he cautiously wrapped his right arm around her shoulders. He froze there wondering if this was something she wanted or if he had gone too far. When she leaned into him, her blonde head pressed against his cheek he didn't hesitate to wrap his other arm around her. _

_Beth didn't know how long they stayed like that but when she woke up the next morning still in Daryl's arms she knew that she had never felt so safe in her entire life. They never spoke of that night again. There wasn't many opportunities for them to both slept at the same time but on the rare occasion when they found a place where they could put a locked door between them and the world they found their way into each other's arms. _

_After Grady….after everything when she was out there alone….when there was no one to protect her from savages and she was left at their mercy….when what almost happened that day in camp happened again and again. There was nothing she ached for more than to be safe in Daryl's arms again one day. _

She stopped walking when she came to a large room that was illuminated in sunlight. Pushing the plastic drapes aside, her eyes fell on two open doors leading to a balcony. A soft, warm wind blew her blonde hair around her eyes as she reached up to push it away. The smell of a cigarette tickled her nose as she inhaled deeply. She used to detest the smell but now…now it was comforting. It reminded her of crowded sports bars and Braves games, of Otis sitting on the back porch drinking tea and talking to daddy, but most of all it reminded her of Daryl sitting on the picnic table outside the prison all alone staring out into the dark.

"I can't believe you still smoke…." Leaning against the French glass doors she shook her head as an easy smile came to her face. Daryl leaned back against the railing the cross bow at his feet as he flicked the hair out of his face, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Everyone's got to die of something.." She rolled her eyes as he flicked the spent butt to the concrete below. For a moment they held each other's gaze. Taking these precious few seconds to remember how well they could read one another. Daryl felt his heart begin to race just looking at her. Every night since that day when he left her at Grady he thought about the way she felt in his arms. Ached for her to be there again, and tore himself apart for letting her go in the first place. He never felt comfortable with touching people or having people touch him but this was Beth and this was different. She knew him better than he knew himself. He felt an overwhelming urge to reach other and touch her, pull her into him, hold her close, run his fingers through her hair, hold her hand…hell he didn't care…he just knew he needed her.

Beth felt herself pulled into him with the intensity of his stare as she closed the space between them. Daryl was sure she could hear the way his heart was thumping in his chest. Squeezing the crossbow strap harder he tried to keep his hands from shaking. Beth felt her stomach turn as she looked up into his face; she could still smell the cigarette on his lips. Daryl had never kissed her; in all the time they spent together and all the times he thought about kissing her he never did. The closest they came was that night at the funeral home…..right before he let everything he wanted stop at _'Oh'_. A part of him lived in that moment for the last eight years. What could have happened after _'Oh'. _

Beth reached for his hands as she carefully unwound them from the crossbow strap. Threading her fingers through his she met his eyes as he took a deep breath willing himself to relax. Beth felt the way his hands were shaking and she could see him struggling to keep control of himself. Part of her had been so sure that in eight years he would have found someone and moved on. She would have been in the past; just another dead girl. But that was far from the truth; and she always knew it. Nobody in the whole world had known him the way she did. Beth couldn't lie she was relishing in the fact that her mere presence was having such a strong physical effect on him. Daryl had been her reason for living until now and she had endured unspeakable things to get back to him. And he was still hers. Completely hers.

Leaning down his lips hovered just above hers as she let her eyes slip closed. The familiar sound of snarls and grunts drew Daryl out of the moment as his eyes snapped open, breathing deeply he blew her hair with his exhale. Taking a step back he flicked a glance at her face expecting her to still be standing there, eyes closed waiting for him. But she wasn't…she hadn't moved but her eyes were open as she stared at the approaching herd with a glare of distaste. Bending over he shouldered the crossbow.

"Let's get in position." Daryl stepped around her as Beth reached into her waistband for the Glock she kept there. Five rounds…that was all she had left to her name. It was a last resort….a VERY last resort, and she would only use them if there as no other option. A bullet these days was like gold, only used if it was worth it. Beta….he would be worth a bullet to the head and she would be happy to put one there.

Beth crouched down behind a plywood wall just to the left of the stairs. Glock in one hand, machete in the other; Alpha never knew about the gun. She kept it rolled up tight in her medical bag. No one ever touched any of that stuff; not that they would know what to do with it anyway. The Whisperers were a bunch of animals and she would kill every one of them if it meant keeping Lydia and Henry and Daryl safe.

Footsteps on the stairs; leaning back into the shadows she held her breath. She'd killed a lot of people over the last eight years. She wondered what Daryl would think of that. His sweet, innocent Beth with hands just as dirty as his own. The first of the Whisperers went left toward Henry, she could only hope the boy would know what to do. There were only three of them and who nows how many Whisperers. Daryl had made the decision to lock Lydia in a closet for her own safety and Beth didn't argue. Alpha wouldn't care much if Lydia came back to her dead or alive and Beta…well Beta would do what he had to stay in Alpha's good graces. A struggle down the hallway but Beth couldn't help as a short stocky asshole in a mask came around the corner. Not waiting she shoved the machete forward into the sorry asshole's back. He fell with a groan as another masked freak came up on her and pushed her into the wall. She knew, for a fact, that almost none of Alpha's people had guns. Their ammo had been wasted years ago and now they were just excess baggage; and Alpha had no patience or room for that. Shoving the Glock into her waistband she reared her leg up and kicked the person off of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Beta push past and into the room where Daryl was waiting. The momentary distraction caused her to lose her focus as the Whisperer pushed her to the ground, reaching for her gun. No fucking way was that happening.

Footsteps rushed down the hallway as Henry's wooden stick made contact with the Whisperer's head eliciting a groan. Not wasting any time, Beth reared her leg up pushing the Whisperer off of her and back onto the floor. Henry hit him again on the side the of head, hard, as he went slack and unconscious. From the other room Beth could hear Daryl and Beta. Pulling the Glock back out of her pants she checked it for the tenth time. Five rounds….only needed one though.

Pushing up to her feet she looked at Henry seriously. "Get Lydia…wait for me and Daryl downstairs. If we don't come down…you RUN!" Henry nodded solemnly as he took off back down the hallway. Taking a deep breath, Beth pushed the plastic to the side as she heard a loud thud. Crouching down she nearly gasped as she saw Beta grab Daryl but the throat and drag him toward the balcony. Sure Daryl was strong but Beta was a brick house, nearly a foot taller and at least seventy five pound heavier. It wasn't a fair fight; but then again no fight was anymore.

Beta threw Daryl again the railing as he pushed his upper body over the edge. Daryl glared at him; Beth knew he would never beg.

"The medic and the girl….they belong to us…" Daryl sneered.

"Ain't nobody belong to anyone….bunch of skin wearing freaks…" Beta growled as he pushed Daryl further over the rail. Standing up slowly Beth brought the gun level as she locked her arms out straight. She stepped without making a sound, one of the many things she learned from Daryl that summer after the prison fell, until she was in the doorway to the balcony. To be fair she should give him a chance to surrender. Finger on the trigger she watched as Daryl's feet lifted off the ground. Fuck being fair; nothing about this life was fair anymore. Squeezing, she heard a pop and then her ears were ringing. But she didn't flinch, didn't blink; it wasn't her first time and she didn't feel sorry for what she had done. Eight years of dreaming about him and now he was real and she wasn't going to let anyone take that away from her.

Daryl pushed the big man off of him as he kicked him once in the head. Looking down he spit on Beta's lifeless body as he shouldered his crossbow. Beth met his eyes as she placed the gun back into her waistband. Four more rounds….it was worth it to have one less just to see Beta laying there with a hole in his head.

Beth turned and followed Daryl as they made it downstairs. Outside Lydia, Henry and Dog waited anxiously in the bushes, clearly relieved when they saw Beth and Daryl. They knew that gunshot would draw walkers and who knows what else so there was no time to waste. They needed to get back to Hilltop before dark.

Daryl watched as Beth walked a few steps ahead, her eyes constantly scanning back and forth. "Thanks for what you did back there…"

Beth stopped walking for a moment as she met his eyes. "I owed you one from before…"Daryl didn't need to ask to know she was referring to the day in camp when those two savages had her pinned to the ground. She rolled her eyes a smirk coming to her face, "…really I probably owe you more than one." That wasn't false; in the beginning he did all the killing- walkers and people. Without him, she wouldn't have survived those months after the prison on the road.

Daryl looked down at the ground before looking back into her eyes. "You don't owe me anything. I did it because…." He almost said it. Because I love you, Beth. Back when he had the chance to tell her before everything went to shit he didn't even think his brain was capable of forming those words. But in all the years since, he had been consumed with her and the fact that he did indeed love her. He knew it and he thought about it everyday.

Beth closed the space between them as she lightly touched his arms. She saw him clench his jaw as his breathing quickened. "Because what?"

Daryl shook his head as a smirk came to his lips. "Because I should have never let that moment stop at _'Oh' _" Leaning down his lips met hers as the world stopped. Nothing mattered in that moment except the two of them and for a few seconds everything was right.

**TBC….**


End file.
